UFC 140: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Will Avenge His Loss to Frank Mir

Well, that's what some are boldly saying, at least, and there's only two reasons why anyone would say so.

Theory No. 1 is that Nogueira's UFC 134 performance against Brendan Schaub, which was not supposed to result in a either a competitive fight or a Schaub loss (or both), showed us a rebirth of Minotauro, who looked the best he's looked in a long time in that performance, and thus it is legitimately arguable that Nogueira might actually make Mir fight from his guts.

Theory No. 2 is that people really do not like Frank Mir, and they do not care how any fight with Mir goes as long as Mir posts up a defeat, which henceforth translates into support for Minotauro.

Its actually not hard to see why people think Minotauro can actually beat Mir, as he's always had the Boxing and the BJJ to take anyone out, but the reason why many haven't given him much of a chance was because of the wars he had been in during his career, and those battles do come back for some fighters much quicker than others.

Nogueira's chin will obviously be a question in this fight, and it will be a question until it is shown that not even the elite of the division can put him away, but regardless, his heart and his warrior spirit will not be a question.

Mir can easily establish himself as the aggressor, but Nogueira and his camp have unquestionably had to have had some time to prepare enough for the striking of Mir so that Nogueira can time his counters, but Nogueira can push the action as well if he times his shots right.

Of course, the ground is where it all depends on one's bias, but If Nogueira keeps Mir on his toes and stuffs Mir's takedown attempts, Nogueira could very well even the score.